The Garden District

The grand, residential Garden District, around two miles upriver from the French Quarter, was created in the 1840's by the energetic breed of Anglo-Americans who, having outgrown the Faubourg St Mary, announced their ever-accumulating wealth by building sumptuous mansions in huge, lush gardens. Shaded by jungles of subtropical foliage, the glorious houses - some of them spick-and-span showpieces, others in ruins - evoke a nostalgic vision of the Deep South in a profusion of galleries, columns and balconies. It's a ravishing spectacle, if somewhat Gothic - perfect for horror author Anne Rice, who was born nearby and has since bought and restored a number of local properties, as well as featuring several of them in her fiction.

Taken from ~ The Rough Guide to New Orleans

An area in New Orleans that features antebellum Italianate and Greek Revival mansions. While Rice was growing up, she used to walk though the district, staring at the houses and imagining herself owning one some day. In 1989 she bought one of the Garden District mansions on First Street.

Lestat owns two houses in this district, and both are falling into ruin. The Garden District is also the setting in WH and Lasher for an investigation by the Talamasca.

Lafayette Cemetery

A cemetery in the Garden District of New Orleans where Lestat had hid some gold and jewels before he went underground in 1929. He also uses a vault in this cemetery to hide the key to his penthouse apartment, and sometimes it is where he sleeps.

The Vampire Companion ~ Katherine Ramsland